Estonian Archives - La Visch Designs

tutorial – working an Estonian 3-into-3 star stitch

Estonian knitting, especially the lace knitting, is quite a bit different from other types of lace knitting. This is in a large part due to combination of openwork and texture that is the most prominent feature of Estonian lace knitting. You may have heard of the book * Pitsilised Koekirjad by Leili Riemann, for those interested in Estonian lace knitting, it’s a true treasure trove!

Anyway, often-used design elements include nupps and gathers. Another type of stitch that’s often used is the star stitch. This is the generic name for the type of stitch where interesting patterns are created by making 3 stitches out of 3; or 5 stitches out of 5 and then purling all stitches on the next row.

It’s also possible to decrease or increase stitches this way, by, for example, making 3 stitches out of 5, or 9 out of 5. Increasing with the star technique can be used to start flower-like lace shapes by first increasing 5 stitches to 9 (or 11) and over the next couple of rows gently decreasing the extra stitches away again.

Focus of this tutorial

In this tutorial I will focus on a basic 3-into-3 star stitch on a stockinette background. A 3-into-3 star stitch is made by knitting 3 stitches together without dropping stitches from left-hand needle; yarn over, knit the same 3 stitches together again before dropping it all from the left-hand needle.

When worked in the yarn-needle combination shown here, the results will be a nicely textured fabric. When worked with relatively large needles for the yarn chosen, a more lacy effect will be the result.

Materials used

Yarn: * Paintbox Yarns Simply DK, a good value, good quality 100% acrylic yarn, here in the color 155 Vintage Pink.

Needles: * KnitPro Zing Fixed Circular Needles. In this tutorial, I used the 4 mm (US 6) size with a cable length of 80 cm (32 inches).

Working an Estonian 3-into-3 star stitch step by step

1. First, work your way across the row until you’ve reached the point where you want to make the star stitch.

2. Next, insert the tip of the right-hand needle into the first 3 stitches at the same time as if to knit.

Step 2 in working an Estonian star stitch

3. Wrap the yarn around the needle and pull it through the stitches you inserted the right-hand needle in. Don’t drop the stitches off the left-hand needle yet!

Step 3 in working an Estonian star stitch

4. Wrap the yarn around the right-hand needle to form a yarn over.

5. Again, insert the tip of the right-hand needle into the 3 stitches at the same time as if to knit.

Step 5 in working an Estonian star stitch

6. Again, wrap the yarn around the needle and pull it through the stitches you inserted the right-hand needle in.

7. Now you can drop the stitches off the left-hand needle to finish the star stitch.

And this is how it looks after 3 more rows in stockinette have been worked, with 2 star stitches in a single row. Pretty, isn’t it?!

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lace for mom

The moment I showed my mom the yarn I used in this scarf, she said: “You know this is soooo my color?!” No problem mom, this one is for you. The delicate lace is based on traditional Estonian stitch patterns, which, of course, include nupps. My mom wouldn’t have it any different! Instructions for both traditional and easy nupps are included.

This design in size S was originally published in Knotions Magazine. This pattern, however, not only contains instructions for the peaked border on one of the long sides as pictured but also for a wider symmetrical version (size L). The instructions for the shawl are provided both fully charted and written out.

Pay what you want: (minimum €6.50)

€

Difficulty level

The Lace for Mom scarf is worked lengthwise and contains lace that is worked on the right side of the fabric only. Size L also requires grafting / Kitchener stitch. Stitches used include knit, purl, k2tog, skp, yo, a centered double decrease (sl2-k1-p2sso) and nupps. This pattern is suitable for the intermediate to advanced knitter.

Sizes and finished measurements

S (L) – finished dimensions: 29 (40) cm (11 ½ (15 ¾) inches) wide and 224 cm (88 ¼ inches) long, measured after blocking. Shawl pictured is size S.

Pattern details

Gauge: For the sample Lace for Mom shawl: 12.7 sts / 18.8 rows = 10 cm (4 inches) over body pattern knit with smaller size needles, measured after blocking. Gauge is however not critical for this design.
Pattern languages included: English and Dutch (Dit patroon omvat zowel een Nederlandse als een Engelse versie)
Digital PDF has 4 pages (letter size)

Materials

Yarn: 402 (603) m (440 (660) yds) Malabrigo Yarn Sock (100 % wool; 402 m (440 yds) per 100 g) in 806 Impressionist Sky. Substitute any wool fingering weight yarn of comparable thickness for a similar result.
Size 5 mm (US 8) / 80 cm (32 inches) circular needles
One extra pair size 5 mm (US 8) / 80 cm (32 inches) circular needles for grafting, for size L only
Size 6 mm (US 10) / 80 cm (32 inches) circular needles for cast-on only
Yarn needle
21 stitch markers to use in between lace repeats (optional)
Waste yarn, approx. 1 m (1.1 yds), for size L only
Crochet hook in a size equivalent to the small size knitting needles (optional, for easy nupps)

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luule

Luule means “poetry” in Estonian. The Luule stole was designed for and dedicated to my mother, because she wanted to knit pretty lace. The delicate lace is based on traditional Estonian stitch patterns, knit on both right and wrong sides of the fabric and include nupps. Instructions for both traditional and easy nupps are included.

This shawl begins with a provisional cast on followed by a lovely leaf lace edging and border. After the provisional cast on has been undone, the center is filled with diamond lace. The top edge mirrors the bottom. The instructions for the shawl are provided both fully charted and written out.

Pay what you want: (minimum €6.50)

€

Size and finished measurements

One size – finished dimensions: 58 cm (23 inches) wide and 180 cm (71 inches) long, measured after blocking.

Difficulty

This stole starts with a provisional cast on and contains lace patterning on both right and wrong sides of the fabric. Stitches used include knit, purl, k2tog, k3tog, skp, yo, p2tog, a centered double decrease (sl2-k1-p2sso), Estonian 3 into 3 gathered stitches and nupps.
This pattern is suitable for the advanced knitter.

Pattern details

Worked flat back and forth.
For the sample shawl measured after blocking: 19.2 sts / 24 rows = 10 cm (4 inches) over the body in Diamonds pattern. Gauge is however not critical for this design, the lace will open up after blocking.
Pattern languages included: English and Dutch (Dit patroon omvat zowel een Nederlandse als een Engelse versie).
Digital PDF has 4 pages (letter size).

Materials

Yarn: 800 m (875 yds) Garnstudio Drops Lace [70% alpaca, 30% silk; 400 m (438 yds) per 50 g]. Substitute any lace weight yarn of comparable thickness for a similar result
Knitting needles in your preferred style in size 3.5 mm (US 4).
Yarn needle
Waste yarn for provisional cast on
11 stitch markers (optional)
Crochet hook in a size equivalent to the size of your knitting needles (optional, for easy nupps)

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tutorial: Estonian lace knitting – gathers

In a previous post I told you about nupps, that special textured stitch that originated in Estonia. Another distinguishing Estonian feature in lace knitting, is called a “gather”. These gathers are clearly visible in the photo pictured below.

This photo is from a very interesting website: New lace – Old traditions. On this website the authors focus on modern lace knitting in the Estonian tradition, building on and inspired by the famous Haapsalu shawls. Definitely a must-read for lovers of lace knitting, also due to the many free stitch patterns that can be found there.

What exactly are “gathers”?

Gathers are made by knitting a certain number of stitches together (“gathering” them), after which they are increased. The resulting number of stitches may be the same as the original number, for example, “2-in-2”, “3-in-3”, “5-in-5”, “7-in-7”, etc. It is however also possible to increase to a different number of stitches, the end up with more (or less) stitches. For example “5-in-7” or “3-in-5”. The result consists of small lacy textured buttons in the knitted fabric.

In this post I want to show you how to knit gathers.

Knitting gathers

In this example, I will be making “3 in 3” gathers on a surface of stockinette stitch. I’m using a relatively thick yarn, because it is easier to photograph than lace yarn.

A 3-in-3 gather is made by knitting 3 stitches together, then slipping the newly knitted stitch back to the left hand needle and knitting [ktbl 1, k1, ktbl 1] in the same stitch.

Gathers step by step
1. Knit 3 stitches together.

2. Slip the last knitted stitch back to the left hand needle.

3. Knit 1 stitch through the back loop, but do not slip the original stitch off the needle.

4. Knit one stitch (insert the needle as usual in the front loop), but again do not slip the original stitch off the needle.

5. Knit 1 stitch through the back loop and slip the original stitch off the needle to complete the stitch.

6. This looks something like this:

7. For this example, I knitted three 3-in-3 gathers in the same row:

8. And this is how it looks after I knitted 2 more rows in stockinette as well as another round with three 3-in-3 gathers:

Of course the gathers look very different on a stockinette base and with this thick wool than in lace weight yarn.

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tutorial: Estonian lace knitting – nupps

Maybe you are already familiar with them: Those funny little buttons that give beautiful lace shawls texture. Take for example the beautiful Luule shawl pictured below. A nupp (rhymes with “soup”) is a characteristic of lace as traditionally knit in Estonia.

The special thing of Estonian lace knitting is that besides the openwork it also contains a lot of texture. As a result, in lace knitting in the Estonian tradition there are many stitches that you will probably encounter (almost) nowhere else.

History of lace knitting in Estonia

The tradition of knitting lace shawls in Estonia, began about 200 years ago in the city Haapsalu. From the early 18th century until about 1918 Haapsalu was a popular destination for Russian tourists. To benefit from this tourism the women of Haapsula started selling their knitted lace shawls.

The story goes that these shawls were sold by weight. And because nupps consume a lot of yarn, a pattern with many nupps increase the weight of the resulting shawl considerably. This is the reason that the characteristic Estonian lace patterns have been devised in such a way that they combine the so popular delicate appearance as well as many nupps.

In this post I want to show you how to knit nupps.

Knitting nupps step by step

Knitting nupps is actually a 2-step process: first stitches are increased and in the following wrong side row all these stitches are decreased back to 1 stitch by purling them all together.

1 . To start knit 1 stitch, leaving the original stitch on the left hand needle. Make sure to knit loosely.

2. Make a yarn over on the right hand needle.

3. Again knit 1 stitch loosely, leaving the original stitch on the left hand needle.

4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 once more (for a five-stitch nupp), and then slip the original stitch of the left hand needle. You know have 5 stitches where there originally only was 1. The result will look something like this:

5. For this example, I set up several nupps in the same row:

6. On the following wrong side row the nupps will be completed. The clusters of five stitches look like this from the wrong side of the fabric:

7. Insert your needle in all five stitches at the same time to purl them together. This works best if you have made the new stitches for the nupps loosely and when using sharp knitting needles.

8. Once purled together it looks like this:

And this is how it looks on the right side of the work:

When knit in a thin yarn nupps will of course look very different from the ones in the worsted weight yarn I used for this tutorial. Depending on the effect you want to achieve you can make 5-stitch, 7-stitch or even 9-stitch nupps. Just repeat steps 2 and 3 as desired.

And don’t forget:

Knit loosely.
Use sharp needles.
Use a crochet hook to purl the nupps stitches together if you have to.
Don’t sweat it if they don’t turn out the way you want at first: it is only yarn!

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